Til the end
by Wonderland-sama
Summary: Itachi's thoughts during his battle with Sasuke, but his thoughts aren't on the fight. "But sometimes, I do wish you could hear my thoughts. Hear my love, hear my grief, hear my sadness." ONESHOT


**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Naruto**

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It always hurt me.

Every time you said you hated me. You didn't even have to say it, your eyes always did.

You have no idea how many times I wanted to hug you and say I was sorry. Even now as you stand before me, declaring your hatred. When we were young, long before I killed our clan, I never thought I'd see the day you would point your sword at me, promising my death. I always thought we would be by each other's side, like all brothers should. But that dream was crushed when I was old enough to know about the coup de'tat.

I have always wondered, whose side would you have chose?

Would you have sided with the Uchiha, your family, to destroy the village?

Or would you have sided with the village, and me, your older brother?

Could your love and admiration for me outmatch your love for the entire clan?

If you knew now, would you still have looked at me with such hatred?

I wish I could have seen you grow up in these past 8 years. I wish I could have taught you instead of that snake, Orochimaru. I wish I could have seen your smile one more time. I wish I could have seen what your eyes looked like filled with love instead of hate. I wish I could have stayed by your side to protect you instead of hurt you.

Forgive me for thinking such selfish thoughts.

I knew what kind of life I would have to live when I decided to put an end to our clan. You would have gotten hurt no matter what I chose. But now that I think about it, maybe you could have changed our parents, but it's too late to fix that mistake. I hope you know that they loved you so much. Their last wishes were for me to protect you.

I'm not doing such a good job, am I?

But I cannot doubt how proud I am of you. You have gotten so strong, even without the mangekyo sharingan. I am glad you didn't kill your best friend to obtain such power. All these years, whether you knew it or not, you have always listened to me. I told you to hate me and you did. I told you to get stronger and you did. I told you to kill me and I know you will. The one thing you didn't do was kill Naruto, and I'm glad you didn't listen to me.

Ha.

I wonder what the expression on your face would have been if you could hear my thoughts. I'm sure you wouldn't believe a word or claim it was a genjutsu or maybe even accuse me of messing with your head. Which, by now, I wouldn't blame you for such thoughts. I have already terrorized your mind plenty of times with Tsukuyomi.

But sometimes, I do wish you could hear my thoughts. Hear my love, hear my grief, hear my sadness. But I couldn't place a burden like that on your shoulders. Regardless of whether you believe it or not, it would weigh heavy on your mind, wouldn't it? I'm sure you would deny that and curse at me for being an egotistic bastard, right?

Not that I'm saying I don't deserve it. To that you would probably call me a masochist. As I have learned, it seems you have a very colorful vocabulary, no? I hope at least Iruka scolded you for that, because we both know Kakashi wouldn't take the time to do it. He probably blocked it out while reading that perverted book I always saw him carrying around. I wonder if you know why he wears that mask of his. I heard you tried to reveal his face, but was outwitted by him. How expected of the copycat ninja.

But now probably isn't the time to reminisce. We are battling, right? Though I can't focus much with these thoughts swirling in my head. I'm not living up much to my name. After all, I am half blind. I can barely see the shape of your body, let alone your face. As I see you stand on a tall wall with our family's emblem on it, I can hardly make out the words your saying, due to the sudden thunderstorm.

Your doing, right?

It seems I should stop my thoughts from getting too deep and start getting serious.

* * *

You look so scared.

I'm sorry that I caused you so much pain, but at least I rid you of that snake's curse mark. And I served my purpose of showing you the powers of Susano'o. After this battle, you shall have the same powers. So this pain wasn't for nothing, right?

But I still can't help but feel guilty. Sasuke, do you sometimes feel any guilt or regret? Though I couldn't possibly blame you if you didn't. I'm sure you actually felt happy or excited to finally hurt me after eight long years of not being able to lay even a finger on me. It must have been torture the last time I saw you. Three years ago, when I was doing a task for Akatsuki, remember? I didn't even acknowledge you. At least on the outside. But inside I wanted to hug you and say I missed you so much. Brothers were not meant to fight each other. And they definatley aren't meant for killing each other.

I can see you are out of chakra. I can also make out that you are backing away into a wall.

I've never seen you so terrified. Not even when we were little when you would come into my room saying you had a nightmare and crawl into my bed. Though a nightmare is nothing compared to thinking your brother is going to take your eyes. Don't you know? I would never do such a thing.

I can tell you think you are going to die. I'm sure your heartbeat is racing while mine is starting to slow.

Your eyes widen as I slowly lift my burned arm. There is no hate in your eyes, just fright. How can a brother be so terrified of his brother? But then again, how can a brother hurt his own brother? I'd rather see hate in your eyes than that terrified expression. If I could, I would even beg for it. But, as Father would say, how unbecoming of an Uchiha.

As my fingers touch your forehead, all expression leaves your face except for shock. I can feel my self smile, though whether out of peace or regret, even I do not know. But I know that I'm glad I don't have to see that terrified expression on your face before I depart for the next world. It must be a parting gift from the angels before I am cast off into Hell.

Before I go, there's one thing I want you to know. No matter how much you hate me...

"Forgive me, Sasuke"

No matter how much we hurt each other...

"This is it."

We'll always be brothers til the end.

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**A/n: So here's another story, I hope it didn't suck too bad, but I would like to see what you guys think, so please REVIEW :)**


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